Q2

Sony's Xperia Tablet Z, the tablet first announced for Japan about three months ago, and spotted again at MWC, is finally up for pre-order for those customers awaiting the device's US launch.

When we saw the Tablet Z in person at Mobile World Congress, its super thin, super light water/dust-resistant frame impressed. Its 1920x1200 10.1" display, S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM and promised Android 4.2 base also sounded good on paper, but we concluded it could still be held back by two things: a 6000mAh battery, and a $500 price point for the 16GB model.

Today, Sony announced two new handsets to add to its existing smartphone lineups, led by the new SP. This handset has a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus, 4.6" 'HD Reality Display' and Android 4.1. It's not the most awe-inspiring spec list we've seen, but certainly good enough to stand next to other highish-end handsets.

Here are the full specs for the Xperia SP:

1.7 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ S4 Plus dual core processor

Adreno 320 GPU

1 GB RAM

4.6” 1280x720 display

Android™ 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

LTE

NFC

8MP camera with HDR

In addition to the SP, Sony also announced the Xperia L, which is closer to a mid-range handset.

Yesterday at Mobile World Congress, HTC lifted the veil on their first entry into the tablet market: The HTC Flyer. It's a 7 inch tablet, reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Tab released last fall. The Flyer runs Android 2.4 on a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor and comes with HSPA+ (4G/3G+) capabilities for high-speed data usage.

HTC reported that we should expect it to be available in Q2 2011 but had nothing to say about pricing.

You could say Motorola's earnings call ended on a high note - the company's CEO, Sanjay Jha, told analysts that the Atrix 4G will be launching at the end of February, as will the 3G version of the XOOM. That doesn't quite line up with the rumors we've been hearing about a February 17th release, and Jha later added that the XOOM might even be bumped to a release in March if things don't go according to plan.